Friday, January 03, 2014

vanderTrick: Real-time Webpages in PowerPoint (2013)

One of the most annoying issues with PowerPoint (and there are many others) is the inability to insert a real-time webpage.  I assume there are security issues involved, but the convenience of direct access to a webpage within a PPT slide is huge.  Opening a browser on top of an active presentation is always a struggle, as you will quickly see when people try to do so.

So, for years I have installed a PowerPoint add-in called LiveWeb by Shyam Pillai; you can find it at http://skp.mvps.org/liveweb.htm.  For the recent Office version you have to use the .ppam extension instead of the .ppa; see details on version downloads on the page.  However, it won't work with Windows 8, 8.1 or 10.  Changes in security and macro setting in Office2013 don't help.  The answer is a registry setting.

The instructions are on the FAQ of LiveWeb, but obliquely at best.
A - PowerPoint 2013 blocks the webbrowser control from being inserted which prevents LiveWeb from functioning normally. Please visit this microsoft page to resolve this issue: Cannot insert certain scriptable ActiveX controls into Office 2013 documents
The last link holds the key, but the alerts sound scary.  Yet, it is the only way I found to make it work.  Run Regedit.exe with administrator privileges.  Follow the exact steps to the ClassID, listed below:

For the Click-to-Run installation of Office 2013, locate the following registry subkey:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\15.0\ClickToRun\REGISTRY\MACHINE\Software\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Office\15.0\Common\COM Compatibility\<ClassID>

For the MSI installation of Office 2013, locate the following registry subkey:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Office\15.0\Common\COM Compatibility\<ClassID>
The relevant ClassID for Web Browser Control is {8856F961-340A-11D0-A96B-00C04FD705A2}; see table on that page.  Follow the instruction above with the correct ClassID and you reach a panel shown in the picture below.  The number is variable (in my case 400), which you change to 0, and exit the Regedit program.


Then, reboot the system from shutdown so the new registry is read.  Reloading LiveWeb.ppam by clicking on that file opens PowerPoint directly and inserts the desired functionality.  You'll be asked to approve ActiveX control in PPT ... and voila.  Took me hours to figure, but it's worth it.

Minor update: If your computer is managed/updated by a central system than the variable reset may default to the original windows setting.  Just open regedit (with admin privileges) and change back to zero (as above), and exit.

Note: You may find other functions in Shyam's PowerPoint toolbox useful, at http://skp.mvps.org/toolbox/.  This has not been updated in several years, so some registry and macro settings may need to be changed and functionality across PowerPoint installs may be affected.  Use with care.

17 comments:

blackbuttaflyyyy said...

Great instructions. However, when I try to change my value from '400' to '0', it gives me an error message 'cannot edit compatibility flags: error writing the value's new contents'. What do I do :(

Anonymous said...

I have different issue, able to insert plugin but the weblink doesn't stay after save and reopened back the file.

Unknown said...

thanks so much fixed for me

Unknown said...

I have to be honest, I am a little confused on how to do this. I am rather new to the technology world and I am trying to do this for a rather important project. Is there any way you could explain how to use those codes? Because it makes no sense to me

Anonymous said...

Thanks - worked for me - BUT was in [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\15.0\Common\COM Compatibility\{8856F961-340A-11D0-A96B-00C04FD705A2}]
"Compatibility Flags"=dword:00000000

Anonymous said...

Worked for me. Using PPT 2013

Jula said...

It seems the Web Browser Control is using an old version of IE (version 7) so for some websites requiring a newer version of IE it does not manage to render the content as you do it in the browser.

Jula said...

It seems the Web Browser Control is using an old version of IE (version 7) so for some websites requiring a newer version of IE it does not manage to render the content as you do it in the browser.

Kel said...

Does this need to be done on every system that would want to View the slideshow or just the one that creates it? And do you know if this works with the stand alone Powerpoint Viewer program?

Anonymous said...

Great help, worked for me! Bedankt!

Stefan said...

Thanks for the post!

However, I have the MSI installation, but looking into the register I´m ending up here

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Office\15.0\Common\

The last part (COM Compatibility\) isn't in the folder. I only see "FilesPaths", "LanguageResources" and "Productversion". Any readers have an idea how to solve this?

Unknown said...

Great Help, Perfectly working for me

Anonymous said...

Thank you so much from Japan!

Anonymous said...

I've got Office 2013 Professional Plus. The specified registry key,

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Office\15.0\Common\

exists, but there is no "COM Compatibility\" section within it.

Any suggestions?

HST said...

Hi I have follows the instructions but the addin although it says its installed and available. The option to select from the menu is not available.

Unknown said...

Just to mention that I'm very grateful for your article. Works perfect. Windows 8 / Office 2013 MSI deployment.

Anonymous said...

Works like a charm. The only problem i encounter is that it's not possible to zoom in the feed without screwing up the resolution for the presentation. It will always show the mid without going to the top. I'm guessing a macro could fix this problem.